40 years old now and the Kaikoura, NZ. ufo mystery still puzzles those who saw it.

It was December 1978 when the lights were first seen in Kaikoura New Zealand. Many saw the lights including journalists and two air traffic controllers.

Source

It was even caught on camera by an Australian film crew who was in the area trying to capture footage of them. Journalist Quentin Fogarty said they were transfixed by the mysterious lights, some of which were the size of a house.

Journalist Quentin Fogarty said they were transfixed by the mysterious lights, some of which were the size of a house. "We saw this string of lights, it started as a small pinpoint of light then grew into this large pulsating globe with tinges of orange and red," he said. "I'm sitting there transfixed - we were told after it was about the size of a house."

The object were seen on radar as well. The Muldoon government said the lights were squid boats, moonlight bouncing off cabbages or even Venus rising. Locals were not impressed.

Come on, radar returns from a field of cabbages? Squid boats doing 180 knots at 14,000 feet?" said Mr Cordy. Even Mr Herd, a sceptic according to his son, believed the flashing lights were not normal. "My father was a very sensible man," Daniel Herd said. "It would have taken a lot for him to believe that this was something as unusual as he did believe that it was."

It definitely held on in the press longer than it might have due to that bad film footage taken by the TV film crew, which we can look at now and say that problems with focus and the vibration of the plane make it very difficult to tell what they actually got film of.

Still, UFO "hotspots" are interesting. Are they a matter of increased awareness of the people in the area, so they end up reporting stuff that would have otherwise gone unseen or ignored? Or do the UFO appear in a particular area because of something having to do with the area itself? Magnetic fields? Interdimensional bleed-through? Who can say?

a reply to: data5091

Strange, especially if it's corroborated by radar.

I also am interested by the year. A lot of historical things happened in 1977, and this is only a year after.

a reply to: swanne

I am trying to think of some historical things from that time frame, but not having much luck. I do recall in '77 and '78 were when Star Wars and Close Encounters came out though movie wise.

It's nice to get a break from someone's personal AATIP thread for once!

Thanks for remembering this data. It was reported rather seriously at the time. Even though the footage (see below) is by today's standards pretty poor.



I don't think it's the greatest evidence avaiable but I also don't think it was ever explained satisfactorily. I think the NZ government issued an investigation and there is a file on it somewhere. If I can find it I'll post it later if you want?

originally posted by: data5091
a reply to: swanne

I am trying to think of some historical things from that time frame, but not having much luck. I do recall in '77 and '78 were when Star Wars and Close Encounters came out though movie wise.

I was born in '78.

I'm also interested in hotspots and have spent too much time researching them. The Govt had alot going on late in that decade and that likely accounts for most sightings then and now.

Not that I would ever dismiss the e.t. possibility. I have seen my share of baffling things.

a reply to: data5091

A lot of things actually happened in 1977.

I'll list those below so you may check them out.

Radio broadcast hacked by voice, claiming to be alien called "Vrillon"

NASA shuts down its monitoring equipment on the Moon

Scientists hear the Wow! signal, possibly alien signal

Convention to forbid the use of environmental technologies such as climate control as weapon

NASA launches the Voyager probe, along with the Golden Records for aliens to listen to

And, of course, a year earlier, in 1976:

NASA orbiters snap picture of Face on Mars

a reply to: swanne

indeed yes, I forgot about all that information from that time frame.

a reply to: swanne

The incident happened in December of 1978. So was much closer to the events of early 1979 than 1977. But the tail end of the seventies were a pivotal moment in ufology. It was the end of the more innocent age of lights in the sky and humanoid visitations and the start of the more sinister era of triangle UFOs, grey aliens and abductions.

If anyone wants to view the documents released they are shown here : Thread

With full pdf files available at : Dropbox link

Both courtesy of Sir Isaac Koi!

a reply to: mirageman

thanks for your contribution here Mirageman.

I found this investigation report.


Some explanations for the lights attempted:

But declassified New Zealand Defence Force files released yesterday showed the RNZAF attributed the sightings to "freak propagation" of radio and light waves, an unusually-bright Venus, "anomalous returns" on Wellington radar, and the lights of a squid fishing fleet, cars and trains.

Some of these are the same explanations given in the original source article that were disputed by those who saw the lights.
Noted again the sights on radar:

Then there were radar "returns" from behind the aircraft, and a radar "target" where the crew saw a white light off their starboard side.

n the 2cm-thick file on the Kaikoura sightings, a report by Dr Bruce Maccabee for the NZ UFO Studies Centre, said the incidents were hard to explain through "conventional phenomenon".

a reply to: data5091

Yes good find there data.

I remember this case from when I was a child. It was all quite exciting back then but it was really difficult getting information in 1978. I used to read all the UFO books in the local library but contemporary cases meant hoping on a news item in the papers or on TV.

I haven't refreshed my memory on this case for a long time now. But my feeling was that it has not been explained beyond reasonable doubt. An 'unknown' in other words.

Oh and I doubt you really forgot that a couple of months before this sighting Fred Valentich had disappeared over the Bass Strait in Australia.

So you have, in NZ and Oz, arguably their most famous two UFO cases occurring within two months of each other.

a reply to: mirageman

Indeed, there have been a few sightings like this going back over the past couple of decades, but this sighting may have been the first of its type perhaps, odd lights and shapes doing strange things in the sky. I do recall that very famous Valentich case. I have seen the program the Science Channel devoted to it in their "Unexplained Files" shows they have run. That one really intrigues me.

a reply to: swanne

1970's radar technology could have been hacked with a WOW signal in concert with a extra terrestrial light show.
CETK?

The most mystery's thing is why these alien who seam to NEVER want to make contact use lights bright enough to be sure half the city sees the lights ?
This to me is the most telling thing about so called aliens UFOS .

On top of that even humans can make probes the size of a insect now so even if these aliens wanted to study us they could easily stay hidden behind the moon even and send atomic sized probes .

Heck having the teck to go light years implys teck that may very well be 10000s of years more advanced then ours